Born in Kiev but now based in London, Alexei Grynyuk won first prize at the very last Sergei Diaghilev All-Soviet-Union Piano Competition in Moscow at the age of 13, and won first prize at the Horowitz and Shanghai International Piano Competitions. He regularly tours Europe, the United States and Japan. For Dorking Alexei will play a programme of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt.
Bach’s first partita is the most attractive and approachable of the set. Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata lives up to its name, being a work full of energy and force mixed with lyrical episodes. Chopin’s third sonata provides a pianist with plenty of challenges but the result is hugely rewarding for the listener. Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies use folk melodies and are full of deep passion and blazing virtuosity; Alexei will play the ninth in the set, nicknamed Carnival in Pest, to round off the recital.